Detroit (0-2) hosts the Patriots (1-1) at 8:20 p.m. Sunday on NBC.
Editor’s note: This is the « beat writer breakdown, » a weekly series where he pose five questions to a reporter who covers Detroit’s opponent. This week, Patriots beat writer Kevin Duffy of the Boston Herald is our victim. Follow his work here and find him on Twitter here. Detroit (0-2) hosts the Patriots (1-1) at 8:20 p.m. Sunday on NBC.
MLive: Tom Brady is the GOAT, everyone knows that. But the Patriots haven’t exactly been a finely tuned machine through two weeks either. Is Father Time finally catching up to Brady? Or is this just a blip en route to another big season?
Kevin Duffy: I’m not sure it’s either, if that can make any sense. The Patriots offense has looked ordinary through two weeks because the talent is down at the skill positions. Julian Edelman’s return from suspension (Week 5) will help. Josh Gordon could be a difference-maker too. Sony Michel is finally healthy, and he might run away with the No. 1 job in the backfield. So this offense has the potential to be great, but we just haven’t seen it yet.
As great as Brady is, he needs help. My hunch is the offense will make significant improvements in the coming weeks.
MLive: Based on what you’ve seen and heard this week, what do you expect out of Josh Gordon on Sunday?
I think Gordon will play. It’ll take a while for him to fully grasp the Pats offense, but he can still make an impact as he acclimates. I recently spoke with his former teammate, Andrew Hawkins, who briefly spent time in New England. Hawkins noted the difficulty of grasping the Pats playbook (« even coming from me, who was graduating with a Masters from Columbia, » he said), but explained that Gordon’s rare physical ability can get him on the field early.
« One thing that Tom Brady and Josh Gordon will be able to do, much like Tom Brady and Randy Moss, is line up, run a deep ball, run a deep post, and (Brady) will put it on the money and Gordon will outrun that guy, » Hawkins said.
They’ll probably take a few shots Sunday night against the Lions. If nothing else, his presence will prevent teams from automatically doubling Rob Gronkowski down the middle.
MLive: Rex Burkhead hasn’t exactly lit the league on fire, but the Lions run defense is the worst in the league by 25 yards a game. Why has the Patriots run game struggled, and what are your expectations for Sunday?
Duffy: Rough start for the Pats running game. They’re averaging 3.4 yards per carry on first-and-10, so they’re not putting Brady in favorable situations. I think this could be Sony Michel’s breakout game. We haven’t seen much from Michel, but there were some positives to take from his debut versus Jacksonville. He ran hard and created yards after contact, most notably when he trucked Jags safety Tashaun Gipson for 7 extra yards on a carry in the second quarter.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pats fed him the ball early and often against Detroit.
MLive: I’m just curious your impressions of Matt Patricia after covering him for a few years? What were his defenses like? Why were they so successful? And what are your thoughts on the slow start he’s off to in Detroit?
Duffy: I thought Patricia was very well respected by all Patriots players. He seemed to connect really well with not only his defensive players, but guys on offense, too.
His defenses sometimes got off to slow starts — the Pats allowed 32 points per game through four weeks a year ago — but always figured it out. New England is the only team in the league that has allowed fewer than 20 points per game in each of the past four seasons. So they were consistent.
The general defensive philosophy was simple: Don’t allow big plays. The « bend but don’t break » mantra sometimes elicits eye rolls, but it’s the truth. Bill Belichick and Patricia bet that opposing quarterbacks weren’t good enough to sustain drives, convert multiple third downs, and make the right reads in the red zone. They were usually right. The Pats made sure teams wouldn’t pick up big chunks of yardage in a single play, and sometimes that meant surrendering dink-and-dunk yardage.
Obviously, that’s not how Patricia’s first two games with the Lions have gone. I don’t know if Detroit’s talent on that side of the ball is poor, or if Patricia cannot get his guys to buy in. Or maybe it’s a combination of both. But it’s been pretty ugly, and I don’t suspect it’ll get better this week.
MLive: The Patriots are unbeaten against Detroit since 2000, and have lost just once since 1993. They continue that run Sunday if…
Duffy: … they show up.
Nah, I’m kidding. The Lions should be able to score plenty against a New England defense that will be without two of its best players in defensive end Trey Flowers and strong safety Patrick Chung. But if the Patriots can establish the run and gain control of the game quickly, they should win. This is definitely a « get right » spot for the New England offense.
Kevin Duffy’s prediction: Definitely the potential for a shootout here. The Pats offense starts to come together, beginning with Sony Michel and the running game. Patriots 38, Lions 20
